The way that the poison works, it forces the mice to seek water. That usually means going outside, and that's where they typically die. If you or your neighbors have cats, make sure you pick up any carcasses you see and dispose of them where the pets can't get to them.

I got lucky.I had a paper bag i put burnables in.The little%^$$%chewed a hole in the side [i heard him doing it]of the bag.I caught him in the bag,took it outside and poof!!!Gone!!!I don't feel sorry for him.He ate a lot of peanut butter on traps.He was a real little guy.OH WELL!!!Should have stayed outside.kevin

D-Con is Coumadin - blood thinner - the same thing that's given to lots of senior citizens and others for any blockages so circulation isn't shut down. In the case of mice, the bleed to death from within. I used to put it out until I discovered a big pile of it in the shock tower of my car - the little devils were putting it away for future use. I suppose they ingested enough over the time spent toting it around to kill them - the problem is it might be lethal to another animal that eats them. I now use the small plastic snap traps and peanut butter - have had quite a hunt this Winter. Craig

we used to have biiiig Norway rats on our farm between Ithaca and Watkins Glen, NY. we used D-Con, which as the others have said, makes'em want water 'cuz they're blood is so thinned out. by the way, D-Con and aspirin have about 99% of their molecules in common (yikes!).

one way we killed rats/mice without poison (after we got the big rats taken care of) was to build a simple trap:

get together:
1. a large, 5 gallon bucket (or bigger) with straight sides, and fill it 1/2 full with water
2. a piece of string big enough to support the size critter yer lookin' to kill
3. an empty soda or beer can. you can sometimes find one around my house ;^)

put a couple holes on opposite sides of the bucket to hold the string straight across it. put a hole in the bottom of the can (for the top, use the ready made hole - this will make it "wobbly"). thread the string through the can, and tie it off on both ends. form a depression in the can, big enough to hold some peanut butter (i guess you can form the depression whenever you want!). apply the peanut butter to the depression, and make it so that the depression stays "up"; sometimes it's a little hard, but keep working on it until the can still rotates, but sits on the string. when the mice/rats go for the peanut butter, IF they make it to the can, they'll make the can rotate and fall into the water. this worked for us fairly well.

magnumpi wrote:D-Con is Coumadin - blood thinner - In the case of mice, the bleed to death from within.

Craig

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From what I was told by a Vet that is a true statement. And, and , and, I was also told that if your pet ingests D-Con that you need to quickly feed or force-feed it with vitamin (K) and that will thicken the blood immediatly to stop the internal bleeding. I dont know the availability of vitimin (K) though Guess that will be my next Gurgle surch.

The active ingredient in D-con is a first generation rodenticide that takes multiple feedings for a leathal dose. If you chose this poison is is better to grind it up with a board so they can't relocate the pellets and have to consume it in place. Sometimes they will begin to get sick and stop feeding on it.

The second generation rodenticides only require a single feeding for a lethal dose. Read the ingredients and look for "bromadilone" (probably the most common 2nd generation but their are others) instead of "warfarin" (de-con).

If your pet is exposed pour a little 3% peroxide down their throat to induce vomiting right away--call the vet to find out how much based on the size of the animal then take them in for the vit. K1 treatments.

Tim Moore
MSU pest management and a 13 year private pest control company.

I used to take care of 4 summer homes. The owners used dcon. Like you I found empty dcon boxes and lots of mouse poop, but no mice. It made cleaning harder because of the extra mess. It finally occurred to me that if the mice had no food, poisoned or not, they would not dump all over the place. I reasoned with the owners this way: why lure the mice inside with food in order to kill them? The mice come and go anyways. Sure they might be dying, but there is always another mouse to come along and eat more. When they stopped the dcon, the rest of the mouse damage also stopped. It was counter intuitive, but it worked.

Lurker Carl wrote:It's best to stick with Victor mouse traps baited with peanut butter. That way, I know where all the bodies are.

Carl,

I set two victor traps, I found one trap with a mouse in it, never did find the other trap, a mouse must have drug it under the counters, never smelled or anything. dont know where it is. mabe when I redo the kitchen, ill find it..... hopefully with a skelaton in it

I use the K.I.S.S. method. Keep It Simple Stupid. I made weasel traps. Which is nothing more then a plywood box with no bottom. It is 6" high inside and 5" wide. At each end I drilled a 1 1/2" hole. The bottom of the hole is about 2" from ground level. Buy 2 rat trapd or mouse traps the old style. do not place bait on traps put it on a butter lid or something small. Then set both traps, 1 on each side with the trigger away from bait (so the trigger will be under hole). Place box overtop of both traps and bait. When critter goes through hole it will automatically go down onto trigger. You don't loose any traps and once they get in they can't get out even if they miss the trigger the first time.

Back to war!!!Saw another one!!!Sticky traps and snap traps.I been seeing stray cats outside.Must be food around and I'm not feeding them.No decon don't want to hurt the strays,but i don't like cats either.Kevin